Duncan-Williams Films New Concert Promo Video

By Andy Meek

From the moment a video camera captured Duncan-Williams Inc.’s president stepping off the elevator last year belting out “Saturday in the Park,” it was clear the investment firm’s promotional videos for the Live at the Garden concert series would be out of the box.

The new video from Duncan-Williams Inc. promoting the upcoming Live at the Garden concert series is online now and is a lighthearted sketch featuring the firm’s president.

(Duncan-Williams)

This month, that trend continues. A new season of the concert series is about to start, and the cameras again have been rolling at the offices of Duncan-Williams, Live at the Garden’s title sponsor.

When the firm’s marketing team approached firm president Duncan Williams with their new idea for a video shoot to promote this year’s concert lineup, it called for the veteran investment professional to don a pair of Superman pajamas. Which is to say he didn’t necessarily warm to it immediately.

“I’m sure I gave them a long look and it got very quiet,” Williams said of the video’s concept “Live the Dream,” which opens with Williams curled up in bed wearing some Man of Steel-themed PJs.

The rest of the video mimics the visuals of a dreamlike state and features the music of the acts playing Live at the Garden this year: Tony Bennett, Robert Plant, The Band Perry, Earth, Wind & Fire and Foreigner.

The next morning after being presented with the concept, Williams said he was all-in.

“I think all the employees at Duncan-Williams enjoy seeing us thinking out of the box and not being afraid to get out of our comfort zone,” Williams said. “Our job of protecting peoples’ life savings is very stressful, and I think this reminds us all that sometimes we just need to let it go and have some fun.”

Unlike last year, when separate videos were made to promote each individual Live at the Garden act, this year the firm is leveraging one video to gin up interest and engagement in a variety of ways. For example, the Duncan-Williams Facebook page explained to its followers that the firm had fun making its “Live the Dream” video, but now it’s the public’s turn.

“Create a Tony Bennett-themed video no more than 60 seconds long,” the firm asked its followers. “Then post it to the Facebook pages of both Duncan-Williams Inc. and Live at the Garden. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but we do want to see your creativity and passion for Tony Bennett because our favorite video will win two tickets to the show and a backstage meeting with the world-famous crooner when he comes to town on Saturday, June 1st!”

Andy Windham, executive vice president of Walker-Associates, the firm Duncan-Williams has been working with on its social strategy, said this year’s video offering in support of the concerts is even more attention-getting than last year.

“The bigger strategy will be to get people engaged with Duncan-Williams and Live at the Garden by inviting them to submit short videos,” Windham said. “We want to get people engaged and having fun.”

Windham added that last year, the videos that were part of the promotion were distributed heavily through Duncan-Williams’ Facebook page and got close to 30,000 views.

“We set out to break the mold a little bit in the financial services category,” Windham said.